Tag Archives: BYOD

By Benjamin Robbins – Bring your own device (BYOD) has enamored many organizations. It has introduced several positive forces into the enterprise with the supposed promise of cost savings, employee satisfaction, and productivity. However, reality has proven to be otherwise. As many organizations struggle with implementing a BYOD program, others wonder if there is an alternative…[read more]

On Wednesday September 19th I hosted a really great live webcast in Chicago on Consumerization of IT, BYOD, and Employee Led Innovation. My two panelists, Steve Duncan from Trend Micro and Ron Hyde from Dell, and I had a fun round-table discussion on the issues facing organizations of all sizes. If you didn’t get a chance to watch the live webcast, don’t fret, you can watch the recorded version here.

You can also still participate in a Tweet Chat happening tomorrow Wednesday September 26th at 26, 2012 at 12PM CDT (1PM ET, 10AM PT) with host Ramon Ray (@RamonRay). The topic will be “Debunking 4 myths in consumerization of IT. More details can be found here.

I fielded several questions from the twitter and blogasphere before the live webcast. To close the loop on Q & A here are the questions and the responses. Thanks to all who participated!

1. How should companies think beyond the app (or the device) when developing Employee Led Innovation (ELI?) What is the role of the employee in ELI beyond the insatiable appetite for cool devices?

Steve Duncan: Companies have to take a holistic approach to ELI and not just create policies and technology frameworks for devices. It starts with creating a structured and continuous method for collecting ideas/initiatives and reacting to them. Every initiative needs to be answered by management such that employees remain motivated to participate. Some times that means identifying the right people to evaluate the merits of every idea or initiative. Once employees know that Management and IT are really listening and reacting, the initiatives will flow.

2. How do you establish and maintain a collaborative attitude between IT and the rest of the company?

Steve Duncan: It’s the job of IT to create the environment that allows employees to innovate. That starts with developing and publishing boundaries for how technology can be used inside and outside of the company. It has to be backed up by providing a technology environment that lets employees to choose their applications and devices without risking loss of company data or breeching security. By providing security and provisioning support for employee initiatives, an environment of collaboration would be established.

Ron Hyde responds to both questions:

One way to ensure success would be to establish an ELI committee, made up of both end-users and IT staff. Ideally, this committee would be the ‘voice of the company’. This purpose of this group would be to jointly collaborate on key corporate initiatives around mobility. The committee will consist of IT savvy end-users who are familiar with the mobile devices and software applications of the ELI. The IT department would provide folks that are focused on delivering and managing these mobile devices and apps. Together the end-users would outline objectives and the IT department could prepare for them. By working together, both sides can craft timelines, develop a budget, and muster resources. This would help set expectations on both sides. Ultimately the committee would introduce solutions that provide value to the corporate end-user and be effectively managed by IT.

On September 19th at noon CT (1PM ET, 10AM PT) I’ll be hosting a live webcast in Chicago entitled Understanding the value of employee-led innovation & BYOD (see event description below). This Trend Micro Sponsored event will feature a great panel with Steve Duncan, Ron Hyde , and myself.

You can join in!1. I am seeking your questions and input ahead of time in order to incorporate them into the event. If you have questions that you want to see addressed during the event post a comment below or send me a tweet at @paladorbenjamin. I’ll add the questions and comments to this blog post as I get them.2. Watch the live event here!3. During the event tweet your questions and comments with the hash tag #DellWebcast – I look forward to your input!

You can win a sweet prize!
For participating in the event you could win a Dell™ Latitude™ E6230 laptop with Trend Micro Titanium Internet Security (24 months). The Approximate Retail Value of this prize is $1,679.00. Details on rules and how to win are here.

What’s this event all about?
As the technology landscape evolves, companies are changing the way they operate and providing new opportunities for employees. Consumer preference is increasingly driving the adoption of technology and policies within the workplace.

The implementation of BYOD provides greater flexibility and personal choice for individual workers. It has also been proven to increase productivity and revenues. In addition, employee-led innovation (ELI) offers an alternative to the traditional top-down approach to innovation by involving staff – including the end user – in all areas of developing IT solutions.

Join our live, one-hour webcast, “Understanding the value of employee-led innovation & BYOD”, and learn from industry experts as they discuss:
• Why companies are embracing these trends
• Considerations for your company before implementing employee-led innovation
• Measuring the value of ELI and BYOD
• How ELI can help to resolve organizational issues

QUESTIONS From The TWITTERSPHERE

1. How does IT integrate with employee led innovation while still serving the business needs and being proactive not reactive?

On June 20th, 2012 I hosted a very lively tweet chat on BYOD sponsored by Dell and Microsoft. Many thanks to all the partipcants! Click for a recap of question 1 or here for a recap of question 2 or here for a recap of Question 3. The Tweet Chat ended with discusion of BYOD policy, scalability, and Why BYOD.

On June 20th, 2012 I hosted a very lively tweet chat on BYOD sponsored by Dell and Microsoft. Many thanks to all the partipcants! If you weren’t able to participate don’t fret! Over the next week or so I’ll recap all the action play-by-play so you can feel like you were right there! Click for a recap of question 1 or here for a recap of question 2. Question 3 was a real hot button – BYOD and Secuirty!

On June 20th, 2012 I hosted a very lively tweet chat on BYOD sponsored by Dell and Microsoft. Many thanks to all the partipcants! If you weren’t able to participate don’t fret! Over the next week or so I’ll recap all the action play-by-play so you can feel like you were right there! Click for a recap of question 1. The second question sparked much debate – BYOD – Cost Saver or Burden? What do you think? Post a comment and let us know!

On June 20th, 2012 I hosted a very lively tweet chat on BYOD sponsored by Dell and Microsoft. Many thanks to all the partipcants! If you weren’t able to participate don’t fret! Over the next week or so I’ll recap all the action play-by-play so you can feel like you were right there! Today we’ll tackle the first question.